By RNZ
A police officer has been exonerated for using force to defend himself after a bystander intervened as he was trying to arrest another man.
The incident happened in the central North Island in January.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority said the officer believed he was about to be assaulted, so he punched the bystander in the face.
After the man he was trying to arrest went into a house, the officer peppered sprayed him through a window and then forced open the front door.